Auto Insurance Cars and Teens: A few tips for parents:

It isn't easy to be a teenager-nor the parents of one. Teens are more interested in getting the keys to the can then in getting a lecture about "responsibility behind the wheel.

But parents have to try. Here are some time-tested approaches others have used to encourage responsibility in their teenage drivers:

1. Have your teenager pay at least part of his or her share for auto insurance. A 50/50 split between parents and teens is common.
2. Offer some incentives under which you'll pick up the entire tab - such as a 3.0 ("B") grade average, accident-free record, no traffic citations, etc.
3. Let the teen know you'll withdraw driving privileges if the car is misused, grades fall, or and irresponsible attitude toward driving is shown in some other way.
4. Insist on completion of driver training course. This exposure to a serious attitude and good driving habits may carry more weight coming from an "outsider" than from you. Certainly, it will reinforce the points you've tried to convey.
5. Ask your teenager to sign a "driving contract" with you. The teen promises never to drive after using drugs or alcohol. You promise to come and provide transportation home at any hour of the day of night, without "hassling." This tells the teen you really care ... and underlines how strongly you believe that alcohol and driving do not mix.
6. Give your teen some ground rules for use of the car. Insist upon knowing where the teen is going, with whom, and what time they're returning. Large groups in the car, and unplanned time, tends to create problems. Purposeful trips do not.
7. Make it clear that the car may not be loaned to anyone else, nor driven by anyone else.
8. Set a good example with your own driving habits and attitudes, including your use of alcohol. Your teenager is subconsciously learning your standards, every time you drive.
9. Set up a meeting between the teenager and your insurance agent, at the agent's office. The agent can speak with experience and authority about insurance rates, the importance of proper driving habits and a good driving record.
10. When the young person changes from an occasional to principal driver of a vehicle, have the youngster listed on a separate auto insurance policy. This heightens the perception of direct responsibility. Premium notices will come specifically addressed to the young driver, so the cost has more impact. This often heightens the young driver's interest in doing what's necessary to keep cost down.

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